Birth Currents explores the immense power of birth and the capacity of the female body to carry and bring life into the world. Through a series of photographs and intuitive written reflections, the installation weaves together the visceral and the poetic, through the female gaze.
My perspective is deeply shaped by the home I grew up in. Raised by a midwife and a hospice worker, I learned to see birth and death as natural, cyclical parts of life. The way my mother spoke so passionately about the women she supported during birth left a lasting impression on me. That, combined with the striking absence of birth imagery in art, became the seed from which this project grew.
Birth Currents has been exhibited in The Grey Space in the Middle, Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague and Nieuw en Meer. A review of the exhibition has been published by Metropolis M. De Correspondent has published the article ‘Wie is de baas tijdens jouw bevalling?’ along with 7 photos of the project. t
Birth Currents - Hanna Burgers
De Berg Blijft (The Mountain Will Stay)
Oma, my grandmother, grew up on the Indonesian island Java. Her life took a profound turn when she and our family were detained in a Japanese concentration camp from 1942 to 1945. At that time, Oma was 17 years old.
During those challenging years, a mountain just outside the camp became a symbol of hope for my grandmother. Each day, she would gaze at the Ambarawa mountain, finding solace in the certainty that, regardless of the uncertainties around her, this mountain stood steady. The strength and resilience of my grandmother have always captivated me. Despite enduring traumas during her time in the concentration camp in Java, she embraced life with a remarkable spirit.
Shortly after my grandmother recently passed away, I travelled to Java myself, drawn by the stories she had shared. I stood where she might have stood, and photographed the mountain she once looked to for comfort. With each photograph I took, I tried to see it through her eyes; not just as a landscape, but as a source of quiet strength and a reminder that even in the darkest times, something enduring can still stand tall.
Oma, my grandmother, grew up on the Indonesian island Java. Her life took a profound turn when she and our family were detained in a Japanese concentration camp from 1942 to 1945. At that time, Oma was 17 years old.
During those challenging years, a mountain just outside the camp became a symbol of hope for my grandmother. Each day, she would gaze at the Ambarawa mountain, finding solace in the certainty that, regardless of the uncertainties around her, this mountain stood steady. The strength and resilience of my grandmother have always captivated me. Despite enduring traumas during her time in the concentration camp in Java, she embraced life with a remarkable spirit.
Shortly after my grandmother recently passed away, I travelled to Java myself, drawn by the stories she had shared. I stood where she might have stood, and photographed the mountain she once looked to for comfort. With each photograph I took, I tried to see it through her eyes; not just as a landscape, but as a source of quiet strength and a reminder that even in the darkest times, something enduring can still stand tall.
Created during The Palace Residency, Gorzanów, Poland — In collaboration with Line Polifke
Bodily Topography is a collaborative project, developed during a residency at The Palace in Gorzanów, Poland, exploring the interconnection between our bodies and the land. Together with artist and writer Line Polifke, I engaged in a series of site-specific actions using soil, body, and text to explore how the earth holds memory; and how the body becomes a living archive of place. Influenced by sensorial and ritualistic practices, the project treats the land not as backdrop, but as collaborator.
Bodily Topography is a collaborative project, developed during a residency at The Palace in Gorzanów, Poland, exploring the interconnection between our bodies and the land. Together with artist and writer Line Polifke, I engaged in a series of site-specific actions using soil, body, and text to explore how the earth holds memory; and how the body becomes a living archive of place. Influenced by sensorial and ritualistic practices, the project treats the land not as backdrop, but as collaborator.
This is part of a poem written by Kees ´t Hart, for mister P.H. van der V., who was found at his home two months after he passed away:
Man, glazenwasser, schoonmaker en metselaar
In Den Haag ik ben gisteren bij u langs gegaan
En bij uw huis heb ik nog een tijdje stil gestaan
Leven is een raadsel, wie dat bedacht is gek
Het is een ding een woord een stem een flat
Waar stilte in de zomer tussen vogels zoemt
En dinsdagavond de vuilnis buiten wordt gezet
In my current home town The Hague, more and more people live in isolation — despite the city increasing in size. People who pass away without any friends or family around them get buried by the council during so-called technical funerals in anonymous graves. I came across a group of poets who write poems for these lone people and cite them during their funerals, providing them with dignity that they might have missed whilst being alive.
http://www.eenzameuitvaart.nl
Commission for International Development Law Organization (IDLO)
During a three-month Artist in Residence program at the intergovernmental organisation IDLO, I explored how the rule of law underpins peace and justice in our society. Immersed in an environment dedicated to legal reform and human rights, I engaged with the organisation's mission and daily work, translating complex legal and developmental concepts into visual form.
Through this commission, I arrived at a central insight: peace is not a static state, but an active, ongoing process; something that must be continuously practiced and protected. Inspired by this understanding, I developed a visual series that reflects the labour, fragility, and resilience involved in building peace.
www.idlo.int
During a three-month Artist in Residence program at the intergovernmental organisation IDLO, I explored how the rule of law underpins peace and justice in our society. Immersed in an environment dedicated to legal reform and human rights, I engaged with the organisation's mission and daily work, translating complex legal and developmental concepts into visual form.
Through this commission, I arrived at a central insight: peace is not a static state, but an active, ongoing process; something that must be continuously practiced and protected. Inspired by this understanding, I developed a visual series that reflects the labour, fragility, and resilience involved in building peace.
www.idlo.int
